Many of you will have been to training at Windy Hill and might be interested to gain an impression of how the atmosphere is different at Tullamarine and would be anxious to know exactly how the new facility would benefit the performance of the players.
The first difference that you would notice is that Windy Hill was part of a local community - people just "dropped in" to watch, to walk their dogs, to train or to kick footballs when the oval wasn't in use. This was overlain by a sense of history of those who had attended games there or were frequenters of the social club, its restaurant, bar and pokies. There used to be a Hall of Fame which is now defunct.
There is no hesitation in my mind in saying that the new facility is better as a training venue - much, better, but as of yet it is a very sterile environment. Just take the name "High Performance Centre" as against the iconic "Windy Hill".
Only a trickle of people are turning up so far - a few pairs of women walking laps and customers attending the Bomber Shop or the membership desk pop briefly outside to look at the ovals. No real sense of the venue being part of a local community at this stage and no surrounding street life apart from the odd kebab shop.
One player described the gigantic structure as like going to work at a factory. That wasn't a criticism but rather a description of the cavernous, but very well appointed, hangar.
The facility to do so much indoors means that spectators will see less of the players out on the oval - e.g. warm ups and warm downs will usually be done inside, out of bounds to spectators. Again this is not a criticism but in terms of atmosphere you feel more divorced from the players.
From a spectator's point of view you will certainly miss the amenities of the grandstands and even seats around the oval that gave shade, protection and a chance to sit with friends.
Many of the advantages of the new facility are self evident - bigger, more private, better equipped etc. so I won't list them here. However the two ovals both ready for use now that the sown oval has reached much the same standard as the turfed oval compared to Windy Hill with its roped off cricket pitch and lack of space for multiple activities is a huge bonus. In today's training report I described the use of the running track with coaches on bicycles closely supervising the groups of runners - this efficiency alone would have to create a significant improvement in fitness.
The other impression I get is that with the increased privacy and lack of spectators the focus of the training is somewhat different - everyone is there to do a job with few distractions - there is a wheelie bin but no-one kicks balls into it nor comes out of the rooms and takes a shot at goal from the impossible angle of the boundary line outside the Reynolds stand.
The new venue creates a very different atmosphere for the spectator but once you adjust to this you will feel proud of it and confident that it will improve performances.
A few seats for the spectators would be a nice gesture from the club though to make members feel welcome.